Citing the coal supply shortage and high power consumption, the Coal Ministry on 7 July said it is mulling to start production of 12 new coal mines by 2022-end. Currently, a total of 36 captive and commercial mines are under production.
As the summers made the heat felt in India – with intermittent power supply and lack of coal supplies to power generating plants, the government ramped up the extraction of coal during the first quarter of FY 2022-23 and announced it achieved coal production of 27.7 million tonnes which is 79 per cent higher than 15.5 million-tonnes coal produced during same period in FY 2021-22.
Apart from this, the ministry even seems hopeful to achieve a target production of 32 million tonnes from coal blocks during the second quarter of FY 2022-23. Recently, two mines auctioned in 2021 under commercial auction reforms have become operational and produced 1.57 million tonnes in the first quarter, the official statement said.
ALSO READ: India’s coal production rises 33% in June to 67.59 million tonne
In June itself, India’s coal production increased by 32.57 per cent to 67.59 million tonnes. Earlier, in June 2021, the domestic coal production was 50.98 million tonnes.
According to the provisional statistics of the union ministry of coal during June this year, Coal India Ltd (CIL), Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) and captive mines registered a growth of 28.87%, 5.50% and 83.53% by producing 51.56 million tonnes, 5.56 million tonnes and 10.47 million tonnes, respectively.
Out of the top 37 coal mines as many as 22 mines produced more than 100% and production of another nine mines stood between 80% and 100%, said a statement from the ministry.
The coal despatch in June spiked by 20.69% to 75.46 million tonnes from 62.53 million tonnes in June 2021. During June 2022, CIL and captive mines registered a growth of 15.20% and 88.23% by despatching 58.98 million tonnes and 11.05 million tonnes respectively. SCCL registered a negative growth of 0.46% during the month.
Among other details, the power utilities despatch has grown by 30.77% to 64.89 million tonnes during June this year as compared to 49.62 million tonnes in June 21 due to increase in power demand. Compared to June 2021, coal based power generation has registered a growth of 26.58% in June 2022 and the overall power generation in June 2022 has been 17.73% higher than in June 2021.
In June’s last week, the Ministry said that it has received a total of 38 bids for auction of coal mines for commercial mining. The bids were received under three tranches of commercial coal mine auctions.
ALSO READ: Centre receives 38 bids for auction of coal mines for commercial mining
“Under fifth tranche of auctions, a total of 28 offline bids were received against 15 coal mines, where two or more bids have been received for eight coal mines,” it said.
Earlier, under the second attempt of third tranche, a total of nine coal mines were put up for auctions, while six bids have been received against six coal mines.
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